


Crater

by Sandoz (Sandoz_Iscariot17)



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen, Injury, Introspection, Recovery, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-27
Updated: 2011-06-27
Packaged: 2017-10-20 18:41:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/215918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandoz_Iscariot17/pseuds/Sandoz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Simon recovers from a gunshot wound, he makes an uncomfortable realization.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crater

**Author's Note:**

> Firefly and its characters are the property of Joss Whedon. Set after "Objects in Space."

When Simon opens his eyes he sees a light swimming in the darkness. For a few moments Simon thinks he’s lying in a field and staring at the moon of Osiris, but his mind warms up and he remembers he’s in the infirmary. The circular light hums overhead.

There’s a _wrongness_ in his body brought on by the anesthesia; he feels heavy but emptied. In time he’ll have a scar like a crater on the white flesh of his thigh. Simon can still hear Jubal Early’s voice in the back of his mind.

 _“You oughta be shot.”_

The hell of it is that Early was right. Simon could touch his numb skin but he would not forget the vivid, searing pain.

 _“To be a surgeon…”_

Simon has been on the other end of the bullet and the knife and in the darkness he understands Early’s meaning.

Sensing a weight on his undamaged thigh, Simon touches a tangled mess of dark hair. River sits on a bench, her legs pulled up to her chest and her head resting against him.

 _“To know the kind of pain you’re dealing with…”_

Closing his eyes, Simon fades away into sleep. He knows. Oh, he knows.


End file.
